DASK - Messages

DASK was the first computer in Denmark. It is an acronym for Danish Arithmetic Sequence Calculator.

The man behind DASK is an Electronics and Sound Engineer with a
background in audio systems. He started to experiment with field
recording, synths and sound manipulation over 10 years ago but
always discarded his material until recently.

"Messages" is the second SynGate Records release from DASK.

In 1974 an interstellar message carrying information about humanity and Earth was sent from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico to the star cluster M13, 25,000 light years away. Frank Drake with the help of Carl Sagan devised the format of the message. Track 1 starts with the tones of the message which was sent.

In October 2008 a high powered digital signal was sent from the RT-70 telescope towards Gliese 581 and it will reach the planet Gliese 581c in 2029. Cosmic Call is the name of two radio messages also sent from RT-70 in 1999 (Cosmic Call 1) and 2003 (Cosmic Call 2) to various nearby stars. Cosmic Call 2 will reach Cassiopeia in 2036 which is the earliest of both calls.

Other transmissions have been sent in our quest to reach out beyond our home but it has been suggested that we must advance into a type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale for reliable contact with other civilizations. A type 1 civilization can use the energy reaching its planet from the parent star. We are currently a type 0 civilization using the planets natural resources to expand releasing carbon.

It has also been suggested that a 'Great Filter' occurs at some stage of a civilizations progress that wipes out all life at type 0 such as a species 'burning itself out' by damaging its home planet ecosystem for example. This connects to the idea of the Fermi Paradox (where is everyone?).